Quaker Oats Named Top Food Brand In Social Media And Word-Of-Mouth Conversations

Quaker Oats has replaced Kellogg's as the country's top food brand based on word-of-mouth and social media conversations, Engagement Labs reports in its latest semi-annual ranking of consumer preferences.

"Quaker Oats jumped several spots to become the top TotalSocial brand over the past six months," reports Ed Keller, CEO of Engagement Labs, a Canada-based social media tracking and analysis firm. "While the company remained stable with respect to offline consumer conversations, it was their online campaigns that catapulted them to the top spot. Over the past six months, Quaker has given their online community a lot to talk about and share — from the launch of their 140th anniversary campaign to debuting innovative products such as single-serve Overnight Oats."

Kellogg's fell to eighth place in the new rankings, while three other brands made their first appearances in the top ten. Oreo debuted at No. 3, Perdue Chicken at No. 4, and Kraft at No. 10. Betty Crocker climbed into the No. 2 spot, while Pillsbury, Nestlé, and Heinz dropped out of the top ten altogether — the last of these plummeting from No. 3 to No. 17. Filling out the upper echelon of the listing are Dole at No. 5, General Mills at No. 6, Goya Foods at No. 7, and Hershey's at No. 9.

The Engagement Labs analysis, which combines offline (face-to-face) and online (social media) consumer conversations, is based on the firm's proprietary TotalSocial data, which continuously measures the most important drivers of brand performance.

"The TotalSocial ranking should be a wake-up call for Heinz to rethink its marketing strategies," Keller says. "This significant drop in sentiment, combined with low offline volume scores, indicates that consumers aren't talking about the brand and when they do, it isn't positive. It's time to add some spice to the condiment's marketing strategy."

Engagement Labs provides the world's leading brands with data and technology solutions aimed at driving sales growth and improving marketing return on investment. TotalSocial tracks 500 brands across 16 major industry categories within the U.S., and 350 brands across 18 industry categories in the U.K.